Friday, August 22, 2014

CBC: Smart meter overbilling complaints investigated by Hydro-Québec

From Take Back Your Power

Excerpt

Hydro-Québec is looking into complaints that its new smart meters are overbilling homeowners, following a CBC investigation.

The provincially owned power utility is in the process of installing close to 4 million next-generation meters across Quebec — a switch the utility had claimed would save it, and by proxy its customers, millions of dollars.

Marc Magendie lives in a two-storey home in Laval. He says he’s extremely careful with his electricity consumption, so he was shocked when his hydro bills doubled after a new smart meter was installed. Magendie got his first surprise in January — when he received a bill for more than $1,000. He normally pays between $450 and $500 for that same time period.

smart-meter-customer-overbilling-hydro-quebec Marc Magendie says he doesn’t know how he’ll afford his increasing hydro bills. “I’m running a very tight budget and that increase is breaking me.” (CBC) Marc Magendie says he doesn’t know how he’ll afford his increasing hydro bills. “I’m running a very tight budget and that increase is breaking me.” (CBC) Magendie responded by reducing his electricity consumption even further. “I’ve got a programmable thermostat … I don’t use my dishwasher, I only do laundry once a week when they’re full, I use a drying line.” But he says it hasn’t made a difference. Magendie’s bills have already cost him nearly $3,000 for this year. Normally, he says he pays an average of about $2,000 per year for electricity.

1. Some PG&E Customers Getting Fees Reversed as CPUC Endlessly Delays Smart Meter “Opt Out” Decision Some utility customers in California are getting utility smart meter “opt out” fees reversed by judges at the California Public Utilities Commission, even as the Commission itself drags out a decision about the legality of such fees,having postponed making a decision on the matter five times now- more than nine months beyond their statutory decision deadline. On Friday August 8th, CPUC Administrative Law Judge W. Anthony Colbert ordered Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to immediately remove opt out fees from the bill of a customer who has retained his analog meter. Read the full story here.

2. CDC Cautions on Wireless- Then Changes Mind

From EMFSafetyNetwork.Org: In response to questions about cell phone radiation and cancer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a FAQ about Cell Phones and Your Health. On August 13, 2014 Dr. Joel Moskowitzreported the CDC called for caution on cell phones stating, “Along with many organizations worldwide, we recommend caution in cell phone use.” (see screen shot of original page) Dr.Louis Slesin of Microwave News also reported on the recommendation. The statement was a significant step in acknowledging the health threat of wireless radiation from cell and cordless phones, (and by extension other wireless devices such as baby monitors; wi-fi routers; computers; and smart meters.)

A week after Dr. Moskowitz reported on the FAQ, the CDC removed and substantially changed the language. Read full EMFSN article and coverage on Microwave News.

The brochures include a chart documenting bill increases, “The Path of Your Privacy” diagram, as well as updated sections on health and fire risks. Hard copies printed on 100% recycled non toxic paper are now available for purchase in our online store. You can find out more and download the brochure pdf here.

Pick Up Outreach Supplies Here

Smart meter awareness tools including the new brochure can be ordered through our new improvedonline store. Check it out:

4. Forced Off Grid for Speaking Out: (Six) Months on, the Hart Family Finds Hardship- and Self-Reliance After wires are Cut It’s been (now six) months since Plumas Sierra Rural Electric “Co-Operative” cut the electricity off to our (all-electric) home though we have paid every penny of electricity that we have used. They say it’s because we refused to pay the “opt out” fees they added to our bill. We say we never *opted in* and their disconnection is retribution for raising awareness in the community about the risks of their AMR smart meters. Read all the sordid details of PSREC’s actions against us, and how we are managing without electricity service.

5. Com Ed’s “Smart” Ice Cream Flavors Revealed You’ve got to hand it to Com Ed’s marketing team- at least they are practicing honesty in advertising. Their flavors don’t really sound too appetizing to us- in fact they make us want to be sick, but they probably sound delicious to the utility’s shareholders. Com Ed’s “Smart Meets Sweet” Ice Cream Flavors are……

6. Stop Smart Meters! Director Interview: Resistance to Technocracy and the Smart Grid James Tracy of the Memory Hole Blog interviewed Josh Hart, founder and director of the California-based Stop Smart Meters!, “one of the foremost organizations raising public awareness on the rollout of wireless technology and the ‘smart grid.’” We discuss the ongoing plan to install dangerous microwave-emitting devices on homes and businesses throughout North America and the world–and how the citizenry can resist.Listen to the interview now.

7. Swedish Neuroscientist Olle Johansson Warns Arizona’s Health Authorities About Smart Meter “Poisonous Snake” Swedish Neuroscientist and Associate Professor at the prestigious Karolinska institute in Stockholm Sweden, Olle Johansson, has written a letter to the Arizona Dept. of Health Services encouraging them to re-evaluate the risks of utility company smart grid policies. Johansson urges them to share his skepticism of industry-funded research into the extremely controversial question of whether exposures from wireless devices- including “smart” meters- are causing preventable damage to the public health. Read the letter here.

8. Support SSM! Please Donate or Volunteer to Widen the CampaignIf you support what we do, please donate to Stop Smart Meters! today. We are very grateful for anything you can contribute. If you don't have money to give, how about volunteering? Donate here or make checks payable to: Stop Smart Meters! and send to: PO Box 682 Portola, CA 96122 — THANK YOU

Follow Stop Smart Meters! on Twitter! For the latest campaign updates and links to breaking news stories, follow us on Twitter! We are “stopsmeters.” Please retweet and encourage your friends to follow us!! Our latest tweets also appear on the upper right hand side of our website. Click here to follow us on twitter.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”-Martin Luther King Jr.

It's the generation that can understand exactly how you're feeling through a few simple emoticons.

But now researchers claim that children are now so engrossed in their phones, they are unable to accurately read how people are feeling in real-life.

This is the result of less face-to-face time interaction, according to the study, which found young kids are glued to electronic devices for nearly five hours each day.

Scroll down for video

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Students who went five days without looking at a smartphone, television or other digital screen did 'substantially' better at reading human emotions than those who spent time on their phones

The finding was made after testing the ability of 11 to 12-year-olds to recognise the emotions of people pictured in photos.

'Many people are looking at the benefits of digital media in education, and not many are looking at the costs,' said study author Patricia Greenfield, professor of psychology at the Children's Digital Media Center, part of the University of California, Los Angeles.

'Decreased sensitivity to emotional cues - losing the ability to understand the emotions of other people - is one of the costs.'

The psychologists studied two sets of 11 to 12-year-olds from a Southern California public school: 51 who lived together for five days at the Pali Institute, east of Los Angeles, and 54 others from the same school.

The camp doesn't allow students to use electronic devices - a policy that many students found to be challenging for the first couple of days.

The scientists said that emoticons used in text messages and services such as 'Whatsapp' are a poor substitute for face-to-face communication: 'We are social creatures,' they said. 'We need device-free time'

'SMARTPHONE LOSS ANXIETY' IS INCREASING, CLAIM SCIENTISTS

Can’t find your mobile phone? You could be suffering from smartphone-loss anxiety disorder.

Scientists say people have become so reliant on modern technology like smartphones, laptops and tablets, that when something goes missing they will struggle to cope emotionally.

Canadian researchers say the smart phone has changed most people’s behaviour, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

People are now able to connect and engage with many more people than ever before, but they have become over-reliant on the connectivity with the outside world.

Either way, the researchers say, there is no going back for the majority of users who can almost instantaneously connect with hundreds of people online.

However, our dependence also brings anxiety, said study authors Zhiling Tu, Yufei Yuan and Norm Archer of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

The students were shown 48 pictures of faces that were happy, sad, angry or scared, and asked to identify their feelings.

They also watched videos of actors interacting with one another and were asked to describe the characters' emotions.

Students who went five days without looking at a smartphone, television or other digital screen did 'substantially' better at reading human emotions than those who spent time on their phones.

Researchers also tracked how many errors the students made when trying to describe the emotions in the photos and videos.

When looking at the photos, for example, those at the camp made an average of 9.41 mistakes at the end of the study, down from 14.02 at the beginning.

'You can't learn non-verbal emotional cues from a screen in the way you can learn it from face-to-face communication,' said lead author Yalda Uhls.

'If you're not practicing face-to-face communication, you could be losing important social skills.'

Professor Greenfield considers the results significant, given that they occurred after only five days.

Professor Uhls added that emoticons are a poor substitute for face-to-face communication: 'We are social creatures. We need device-free time.'

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Young children are so engrossed in their phones, tablets and TVs, that they can't accurately read how people are feeling in real-life, according to a recent study by the University of California, Los Angeles

OUR TAKE:Q: Is there a link between the systemic overbilling issue, the fire issue, and the health issue?A: It would appear so. So-named “smart” meters (virtually none are UL tested) and all digital meters produce measurable voltage transients, or “dirty electricity”, on your home wiring. Analog meters do not. The amount of these new voltage transients is variable, depending on the existing house wiring and model of digital meter. These voltage transients a) waste electricity; b) result in increased ground voltageaccording to researcher Dr. Sam Milham; and c) appear to cause health harm. (The measured voltage transients are often far in excess of safety limits prescribed in some countries.) And, there may also be a connection between voltage transients and the systemic fire issue, whichBrian Thiesen investigates. -TBYP

Hydro-Québec is looking into complaints that its new smart meters are overbilling homeowners, following a CBC investigation.

The provincially owned power utility is in the process of installing close to 4 million next-generation meters across Quebec — a switch the utility had claimed would save it, and by proxy its customers, millions of dollars.

Dust-mite exposure reduced the incidence of allergy by 63 percent among infants at high risk of allergies, lending more support to the hygiene hypothesis

Urban babies exposed to cockroach, mouse, and cat allergens (via house dust), as well as to certain types of bacteria, during their first year of life were less likely to suffer from wheezing and allergies at the age of 3

By Dr. Mercola

Dust mites, animal dander, molds, and pollen are among the most common environmental triggers of asthma attacks and allergy symptoms. For some, however, a spring or summer thunderstorm may lead to a flare-up of symptoms.

Research shows an association between thunderstorm activity and worsening of allergy and asthma symptoms; one study found a 3 percent increase in emergency-room visits for asthma attacks in the 24 hours following thunderstorms.1As the researchers explained:

"While a three percent increase in risk may seem modest, asthma is quite prevalent… and a modest relative increase could have a significant public health impact in the population."

What Causes Thunderstorm Asthma?

The phenomenon, known as "thunderstorm asthma," isn't so much an issue of people being allergic to rain. Instead, thunderstorms form the "perfect storm," literally, of circumstances to increase breathing difficulties. Researchers wrote in the journal Thorax:2

"The most prominent hypotheses explaining the associations are that pollen grains rupture by osmotic shock in rainwater, releasing allergens, and that gusty winds from thunderstorm downdrafts spread particles and/or aeroallergens, which may ultimately increase the risk of asthma attacks."

In other words, pollen and mold particles that may otherwise be too big to get into your lungs (and instead tend to cause mostly nose-related symptoms) suddenly become broken up by a thunderstorm. This allows entrance into the lungs, potentially leading to an asthmatic reaction, even in some people who have never had asthma before.

It's also been suggested that storms' electrical charge makes tiny pollen and mold particles stickier, increasing the likelihood that they'll cause trouble in your lungs once inhaled.3 As written in Current Allergy and Asthma Reports:4

"The weather system of a mature thunderstorm likely entrains grass pollen into the cloud base, where pollen rupture would be enhanced, then transports the respirable-sized fragments of pollen debris to ground level where outflows distribute them ahead of the rain.

The conditions occurring at the onset of a thunderstorm might expose susceptible people to a rapid increase in concentrations of pollen allergens in the air that can readily deposit in the lower airways and initiate asthmatic reactions."

So what can you do? Pay attention to weather reports, especially if you've experienced thunderstorm asthma before. Although the condition is relatively uncommon, it's known to strike without warning, so if a thunderstorm is coming, stay indoors and close up your windows to avoid unnecessary exposure to ruptured pollen grains.

Your Mind May Trigger Asthma Symptoms

If it seems surprising that a thunderstorm would trigger asthma and allergy symptoms, then you'll probably be shocked to learn that your mind may do so, too.

In one recent study, asthmatics were exposed to a harmless odor (phenylethyl alcohol, a rosy, pure scent that has no known harmful properties). One group was told the odor was therapeutic while a second group was told the odor might cause respiratory issues.

There were marked differences in how the two groups reacted to the scent, with those who believed the odor was harmful experiencing significantly more airway inflammation. Furthermore, the elevated levels of inflammation stayed that way for 24 hours, which in turn might increase sensitivity to other asthma triggers, resulting in a negative cascade effect.5

Meanwhile, the group who was told the odor was therapeutic had no increase in airway inflammation, even among those who said they were highly sensitive to many odors.

Considering that strong odors, including perfumes, deodorants, cleaning supplies, scented candles, hair spray, personal care products, and more, are widely publicized as potential asthma triggers, could it be that asthmatics' expectation of harm when exposed to these scents is part of the problem?

The study's lead author, Cristina Jaén, Ph.D., noted,6 "It's not just what you smell, but also what you think you smell." The study suggests that managing fear and anxiety about asthma triggers may help to improve your symptoms. This isn't as far-fetched as it may initially seem, as strong emotions are a recognized asthma trigger that may lead to rapid breathing and more.7 This includes:

Laughing or crying too hard

Feeling stressed or anxious

Anger

Fear

Yelling

The helps explain why the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) has been demonstrated to be helpful in about 80 percent of asthma cases. EFT is a form of psychological acupressure, based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments for over five thousand years, but without the invasiveness of needles.

You can use EFT directed toward your asthma symptoms or to help relieve emotional trauma that may be causing you chronic stress. You can also use it to eliminate phobias you may have about certain triggers causing you an asthma attack.

Tapping with EFT has been shown to alter conditioned responses, such that, if you've become conditioned to experience asthma symptoms in response to various triggers, it might help you to break free.

Got Asthma? Try Buteyko Breathing

There are many natural strategies for treating asthma, which I review in the video above. One that you may not have heard of is a simple technique called The Buteyko Breathing Method—named after the Russian physician who developed the technique--which can help restore normal breathing patterns, improve the delivery of oxygen to tissues and organs, increase the oxygen carrying capacity of your blood, and radically improve your overall health and fitness.

Asthmatics typically breathe through the mouth. They also tend to breathe heavier and have a higher respiratory rate than non-asthmatics. According to Patrick McKeown, who is one of the top teachers of the Buteyko Method in the world, there's a feedback loop, in that the heavier breathing volume that's coming into your lungs cause a disturbance of blood gasses, including the loss of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Contrary to popular belief, carbon dioxide is not merely a waste gas. Although you breathe to get rid of excess CO2, it's very important that your breathing volume is normal, in order to maintain a certain amount of CO2 in your lungs.The heavier you breathe, the less oxygen that's actually delivered throughout your body due to lack of carbon dioxide, which causes your blood vessels to constrict.

The Buteyko Method teaches you how to bring your breathing volume back toward normal or, in other words, to reverse chronic hyperventilation or chronic overbreathing. When your breathing is normal, you have better oxygenation of tissues and organs.

Exposing Babies to Dust Mites, Pet Dander, and Other Allergens May Reduce Asthma and Allergy Risk

A child raised in an environment devoid of dirt and germs, and who is given antibiotics that kill off all of the bacteria in his gut, is not able to build up natural resistance to disease, and becomes vulnerable to illnesses later in life. This theory, known as the hygiene hypothesis, is likely one reason why many allergies and immune-system diseases have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled in the last few decades, and now new research is further backing it up. One study, presented at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, exposed babies to oral dust-mite drops twice a day from the age of 6 months to 18 months.8

Dust mites are one of the most common allergens in the US and the UK, and are a common trigger for asthma symptoms as well. Remarkably, the dust-mite exposure reduced the incidence of allergy by 63 percent, and this was among infants at high risk of allergy (they had a history of allergy in both parents). Among the infants exposed to dust mites, only 9.4 percent developed allergy to dust mites or other allergens, compared to more than 25 percent in the placebo group.

In a separate study, researchers found that urban babies exposed to cockroach, mouse, and cat allergens (via house dust), as well as to certain types of bacteria, during their first year of life were less likely to suffer from wheezing and allergies at the age of 3.9 In fact, wheezing was three times more common among children who grew up in homes without allergen exposure. Dr. Todd Mahr, an allergist-immunologist and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Section on Allergy & Immunology, told WebMD:10"The environment appears to play a role, and if you have too clean of an environment the child's immune system is not going to be stimulated."

Why Does Your Immune System Need Dirt to Stay Healthy?

Your immune system is composed of two main groupst's not just what you sm that work together to protect you. One part of your immune system deploys specialized white blood cells called Th1 lymphocytes, which direct an assault on infected cells throughout your body. The other major part of your immune system attacks intruders even earlier. It produces antibodies that try to block dangerous microbes from invading your body's cells in the first place. This latter strategy uses a different variety of white blood cells, called Th2 lymphocytes. The Th2 system also happens to drive allergic responses to foreign organisms.

At birth, an infant's immune system appears to rely primarily on the Th2 system, while waiting for the Th1 system to grow stronger. But the hygiene hypothesis suggests that the Th1 system can grow stronger only if it gets "exercise," either through fighting infections or through encounters with certain harmless microbes. Without such stimulation, the Th2 system flourishes and the immune system tends to react with allergic responses more easily.

In other words, the hygiene hypothesis posits that children and adults not being exposed to viruses and other environmental factors like dirt, germs, parasites, and even certain viruses results in their not being able to build up resistance, which makes them more vulnerable to illnesses. In addition to allergies and asthma, eczema, autoimmune diseases, and even heart disease11 have been associated with the hygiene hypotheses. Fortunately, it's easy to avoid being "too clean," and in turn help bolster your body's natural immune responses. Try:

Letting your child get dirty. Allow your kids to play outside and get dirty (and realize that if your kid eats boogers, it isn't the end of the world).

Not using antibacterial soaps and other antibacterial household products, which wipe out the microorganisms that your body needs to be exposed to for developing and maintaining proper immune function. Simple soap and water are all you need when washing your hands. The antibacterial chemicals (typically triclosan) are quite toxic and have even been found to promote the growth of resistant bacteria.

Avoiding unnecessary antibiotics. Remember that viral infections are impervious to antibiotics, as antibiotics only work on bacterial infections.

Serving locally grown or organic meats that do not contain antibiotics.

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About Me

While I have always been extremely health conscious and am presently in excellent health, I did become temporarily out-of-commission (i.e. I was really sick) in 2005 with a number of at the time unexplainable symptoms. I was quite puzzled at the time because I had been eating mainly organically grown food, drinking spring water, doing Yoga every morning, and going to the gym several times a week. In other words, I was doing everything one is supposed to do to stay healthy. I was not supposed to get sick. It took me six months before discovering or even imagining the main source of the problem - which was in fact "overexposure to electromagnetic" - especially microwave - radiation. I was living within 200 meters of two cell phone towers at the time and within 500 meters of a 3rd one with numerous WiFi signals bleeding into my apartment from adjacent neighbors. I developed a host of symptoms, which are found in what has been misleadingly described as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) -- but much more accurately described as Radio Wave or Microwave Sickness. Large numbers of people in the USA suddenly started getting sick in 1984...